Google has decided to not allow people to use its new visual search tool,
Google Goggles, to identify people for fear of a privacy backlash.

The new tool, which was announced earlier this week, and is so far available only Google Android mobile phones, enables users to search using pictures instead of words. Users focus their phone's camera on an object, and Google compares elements of that picture against its database of images. When it finds a match, Google will tell you the name of what you're looking at, and provide a list of results linking through to the relevant web pages and news stories.

However, it has been unclear until now, whether users could use the tool to take a photo of people in order to find out more about them. Marissa Mayer, vice president of Google’s Search Product and User Experience, revealed to The Telegraph exclusively at LeWeb 2009 in Paris, that Google Goggles will simply ignore people’s faces if people tried to apply the same technology to identify individuals rather than places or objects.

“We are blocking out people’s faces if people try to use Google Goggles to search for information about them. Until we understand the implications of the facial recognition tool we have decided to make sure we block out people’s faces. We need to really understand how this tool affects people’s privacy and cannot change that decision until we do,” she explained.

Google says ‘Goggles’ can recognise tens of millions of objects and places.

"Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words," said Shailesh Nalawadi, product manager for Google Goggles. "For many search queries, using an image to search is easier and more useful than text alone, especially on a mobile phone. Computer vision technology is still in its infancy, but Goggles demonstrates its potential.

"We are hard at work extending our recognition capabilities. You can imagine a future where visual searching is as natural as pointing your finger."

Google also announced that it had extended its ‘personalized search’ this week to include everyone and not just those with Google accounts. This means that if people do not opt out, they will be served customized results based on their previous searches. Google will store up to 180 days of a user’s search activity in their cookie and deliver search results that reflect their browsing history.